We are still almost three months away from Thanksgiving, but I am already thinking about the meal. Turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce.  I always end up making too much food, but my favorite, and I think the family's favorite is my traditional stuffing.  I have probably made it every year for at least the past ten years.  It starts with sour dough bread.  Toasted lightly, then I add hot Italian sausage, celery, onions, artichoke hearts, pine nuts and good Parmesan cheese, among other things.  Oh, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  I usually end up tasting it before it is even thrown in the oven.  All those flavors melding together, amazing!  And then add to that my homemade gravy and it's close to heaven.  Seems like when we sit and eat our meal together, we are all groaning by the end of it, but still trying to fit a little more in our bellies.  Just....one....more....bite.  We are all so full, so sated, so totally satisfied.  But before we even leave the table, we are already thinking of the leftovers!  And we haven't even touched dessert yet.  Homemade pumpkin pie, usually a cheesecake of some kind or maybe tiramisu.  How can you be so full that your belly hurts and still be wanting more?
It's because every taste is incredible.  Each bite a delight.  A symphony of flavors and aromas, all coming together in a delectable and satisfying repast. It is a once a year meal that you wish you could eat every day (if only you didn't gain 5 pounds!)  And it's not just the food, but it's the company too.  We are all together enjoying this meal, this fellowship.  A common bond, a uniting activity.  One of my greatest joys is cooking for people.  Making food they don't normally get.  Baking treats and having the reward of seeing the joy and delight on their faces as they taste it.  It gives me pleasure to see their pleasure.  So as much as I may be giving, I am also receiving.  
We have a God who feels the same way.  He delights in delighting us.  He gets pleasure in seeing us blessed and content.  He gets great satisfaction and gladness out of our joy.  How do we attain that joy? Well, it is kind of like that Thanksgiving meal.  We have to take the time to sit with Him, to fellowship with Him, to taste and see that He is good.  We have to make the time to have companionship with Him.  Psalm 16:11 says, "You make known to me the path of life;  in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (ESV)  In His presence there is fullness of joy.  Fullness, like that fullness after Thanksgiving dinner; our stomach almost bursting, but looking forward to having another taste.  Satisfied, but our hunger never completely alleviated, our thirst never totally quenched.  Always wanting more, and that's even before dessert is served.  
The way to know Him, the way to spend time in His presence is explained in the few words at the beginning of that verse.  We have to come to know the path of life.  And we know that Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (ESV)  Jesus is the path of life.  He is the way into the presence of the Father.  Salvation through Jesus means an invitation to the marriage feast, the banquet above all banquets; grander than any dinner I have ever planned or attended.  The thing is though, Jesus said He is the way, or in other words, the path.  And a path is not just one step.  It is a route, or course, a narrow walkway.  It is the avenue towards something, the passage to another place.  That path is the way to not only heaven and everlasting communion with God, but it is the track that we walk on here in our life on earth.  It is the way we are to go while we are existing here on earth , but always knowing that we are heavenly bound.
When I make my Thanksgiving preparations, I am not thinking of just the ingredients to buy, the cooking times for all the different items I am making, the way I am going to set the table.  I am also thinking of who I am going to share that meal with.  Of course it will be with whatever family is here and available.  My daughter doesn't live locally anymore and I miss her so much at these family gatherings.  But I also invite others to come.  Sometimes it is close friends, or people who are alone at the holidays.  Sometimes it is an acquantance that I may not necessarily want to spend time with, but my heart is filled with compassion at the thought of them missing out on a feast and day of celebration because they have no one to share it with.  As we walk on this path in life, in the hope of being in His presence, our thoughts should not only dwell on being full ourselves, but on sharing that joy with others.  When I think of the joy that people take in eating a meal I have prepared, that pales in comparison to thinking of the joy that they will have when they become part of the family of God.  If I delight in sharing a bite of tender turkey and savory mashed potatoes, shouldn't I delight more in the thought that they will taste and see that the Lord is good and enter into a life that will bring more contentment and pleasure than any temporal meal?  I want them to know that just like eating that tasty morsel, just like savoring that delectable tidbit, that their walk with Jesus is filled with exquisite and enticing things.  A life with Christ is filled with more than we can imagine.  If we just look, we will be amazed.  It is not only filled with the knowledge of our salvation and all that entails, it comes along with His Holy Spirit.  And that is not all, the Holy Spirit is like the Matryoshka doll.  It is not one doll, it is filled with many dolls; one inside another, inside another.  When we open up the present of the Holy Spirit we see gifts galore; wisdom, knowledge, the gift of faith, the gift of healing.  But since we are talking about food here, let's look at the fruit of the Spirit.  Galations 5:22, 23a, "​But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control," (ESV).  Right now fruit is in season.  Everywhere I drive I see fruit trees, overladen with ripe delicious fruit; an abundance to go around.  Apples, apricots, peaches, cherries.  Oh, the taste of fruit picked off the tree, sweet and juicy.  What a treat!  All of that fruit available for all, the sharing of it makes it even better.  The same with the fruit of the Spirit.  It is not ours to hoard for ourselves.  It is given to us so that others can share in the harvest.  We are to love others.  And that love means sharing the gospel.  We are to spread joy to all around us.  This is hardest for me.  I am not an exuberant person, I am introverted and don't show a lot of what I feel.  But I hope that others see a contentment in me that exhibits the Lord's presence in my life.  Peace, we are to be peacemakers and demonstrate that to others, whether they seem to deserve it or not.  Patience; again, another hard one!  We have this abundance given to us, and we have not only the responsibility, but the privilege of sharing it with others.  Nothing makes me sadder, and yes a bit angry than driving by a home that has a house with fruit trees so overladen with fruit, that the branches are breaking, the fruit is falling off the tree and rotting on the ground.  What a waste!  Not only of the practical thing of feeding someone, giving them needed nutrients but also of others being robbed of a delicious taste of something sweet.  
We have a table that needs to be filled.  We have a feast that is being prepared.  And though we have a gala meal available to us here, what we have waiting is a true fete.  And as we think of having that joy, that delight, that gladness and pleasure, let us think of the fact that joy shared is joy multiplied.  Let us work at getting that table filled, every seat taken and let us all be at that table filled to overflowing, sated and satisfied with the goodness of the Lord.

So today, the prelude to my post will be longer than the post...
My schedule is changed this week, so I probably won't get to write my regular post until Thursday. But I wanted to share something.
I love poetry and Haiku is an elegant form of that. Elegant means simple, precise and neat; and Haiku is all of that. In a world where whoever talks the loudest or the longest seems to prevail, beautiful simplicity speaks volumes.


God, who created all
Righteous, faithful and holy
Yet, how He loves me

Did you get to see the eclipse yesterday?  Here in Arizona where we live we were able to see about 70% of the sun covered, between the patches of clouds obscuring our view.  We were at work, so able to take one of our welding helmets to safely view the amazing sight.  What a beautiful choreography that God has produced between the sun and the moon and the stars.  All set in place by His spoken word, "Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night," Jeremiah 31:35 (KJV).  Genesis 1:14, "Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years," (ESV).  
What an incredible thing, to see this glorious dance between these celestial bodies, all held in place by His word.  The sun and moon appearing to be the same size, although in reality the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, but because it is 400 times farther away they seem to be the same diameter.  If the Moon were slightly smaller or orbited a little farther away from Earth, it would never completely cover the solar disk. If the Moon were a little larger or orbited a bit closer to Earth, it would block much of the solar corona during totality, and eclipses wouldn’t be nearly as spectacular.
What a testament of His love and His grace.  That the sun comes up every day to bring us light and warmth and that the moon reflects the sun's rays every night to bring us relief from the darkness.  What a testament of His love that He sent His Son, the dayspring, the daystar to bring light to the darkness of our sinful lives.  He came to bring light and life to lives that were overshadowed by sin.  "I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes and trusts in Me [as Savior—all those who anchor their hope in Me and rely on the truth of My message] will not continue to live in darkness," John 12:46 (AMP).   He came that we would no longer be in the shadow of death, but that we would walk confidently in the light of His love and mercy.  "But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy," Malachi 4:2 (AMP).  
Genesis 1:16, "And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night," (ESV).  Jesus came as the greater light, to show us the way, to bring illumination to our need for Him.  As we walk in relationship with Him, we become that lesser light to reflect His glory and love to the world.  Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, we are to reflect the light of Jesus.  The eclipse happens when the moon passes between the earth and the sun.  Because the sun is so large it seems an impossibility, how can this relatively minuscule moon cover the sun?  It is because the distance of the sun is so far away and with intricate timing and complex geometry God directs everything and voila, the moon passes between the earth and sun and when you have totality, you see not the moon, but what you really see is the corona of the sun behind the moon.  A glorious crown of fire encircling the moon.  
Our responsibility as Christians is to come between the world and Jesus and be that light in the darkness.  We are, as it says in Luke 1:79 to shine light on those in darkness and in the shadow of death.  We're to be that light that reflects the Light of the World.  Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night and it is totally dark.  You are walking to the bathroom or the kitchen and you are stumbling about with arms outstretched, just hoping you don't run into a wall or stub your toe on a piece of furniture.  How helpful even a tiny light from any source would be.  How was it when you were living your life before coming to Christ?  I have so many scars from all of the things I ran into when I was walking in complete darkness.  Stubbed toes and bruises; aches and pains from colliding with things hidden in the dark.  And how incandescent those people seemed who had something different in their lives.  I couldn't explain it at the time.  But now I know what it was.  They were the mirror of Jesus.  They resembled that greater light and showed me the way in the darkness.  They provided the light to show the way out of the darkness and how to become that lesser light to others.  "The people who walk in [spiritual] darkness will see a great Light; Those who live in the dark land, The Light will shine on them," Isaiah 9:2 (AMP).  
I know in my life that there are times when I reflect Jesus better and sometimes it seems as though there is very little light coming from me.  Just as the phases of the moon make it appear as a slim fingernail's edge of a crescent or as large as a great pearl, my light often waxes and wanes.  I struggle as most of us do to be Jesus' hands extended to the world and those around me.  I often fail, but oh how I want to always be a light in the darkness.  I know that it is ofttimes like looking in a mirror that has a film over it.  Cracked and dusty and showing a distorted image.  My desire is to become a clear representation of my Lord.  And how can I do that?   I can do that by immersing myself in His word.  By seeking His presence in my life through prayer and worship.  I can do that by spending time with His children and being part of the Body of Christ.  I can do that by not just reading His word, but by studying it.  I do that by turning from the things of the world and aligning myself with Him.  If I have a mirror and I turn the dull back side of it towards me, I don't see a thing.  But if I turn the bright shining side to me and look into it, I will see an accurate reflection.  It stands to reason that if I turn myself to Christ and the things of God that I will then be a more precise facsimile of Him.  I will be converted or changed into the image of my Lord.  "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit," 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ASV).  What a glorious thing to be remodeled into the image of Jesus.  To know  that when others look at me, they don't just see me, they see Him.  They see the glory of God surrounding me, not because of anything I have done, but because of Whose I am.  I am eclipsed by His glory.
Just as when the moon seems to eclipse the sun, it really isn't the moon you see, but the juxtaposition of the light and the dark.  The moon seems to fade away and when totality comes, what you see is a corona or a crown of light surrounding it.  Just so, when we align ourselves perfectly with Jesus it will not be us that the world sees, but it will be His righteousness and magnificence.  "You will also be [considered] a crown of glory and splendor in the hand of the Lord," Isaiah 62:3 (AMP).  All to His honor and to His glory, and we will be like the twenty four elders in the book of Revelation and cast that crown at His feet, saying 'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power'.

Information about the solar eclipses found at https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-who-what-where-when-and-how and ​https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america/how-why

I am tired today.   I really can't put my finger on the why of it; I am just weary.  "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?" Psalm 42:11 (KJV)  Why does it seem that after we crest a mountain, we always descend into a valley?  Why am I 'down in the dumps, dear soul?  Why are you crying the blues?' as the Message version of Psalm 42:11 puts it.  We had a great weekend away, up in the beautiful Williams area.  Got to enjoy a car show and won an award for my car.  Spent time with friends and just relaxed.  And also had good conversation with Jim about our future and about all that God is doing.  Spent time in prayer together Sunday night and stepped into Monday recharged and ready to go.  And here I am Tuesday morning, weary and worn and just wanting to crawl back into bed.  
If I say that God's word is true, all of it, then I have to believe all of it.  And what I need to believe today is "I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth" Psalm 34:1 (KJV).  I am to bless, or praise Him at all times.  In good times, in bad times, in joyous times, in the sad times.  I am to praise Him when all is well and I am to praise Him when I just really don't feel like it.  And why are we to do that?  Because He is worthy of it all.  Psalm 103:1-2 puts it this way, "Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And all that is [deep] within me, bless His holy name.  Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits" (AMP).  Do not forget any of His benefits.  
Even though I was drained this morning, I could look outside and see the sun.  I could feel the coolness of the morning air.  I could hear the birds singing and see the flowers lifting their heads to the sky.  I could taste my coffee (oh, start working soon caffeine!!) and enjoy my husband's kiss as he left for work.  And these are just some of the temporal benefits, there are myriads more I could list if I was so inclined.  But that's just it.  There are so many and they are temporary and fleeting.  The benefits that we have in our relationship with the Lord are eternal.  They are infinite and exquisite.  His salvation, His love, His grace, His mercy.  Healing, strength, wisdom, the list truly goes on and on.  
I mentioned the car show this weekend.  For those of you who don't really know us, our business is building hot rods and repairing cars.  My husband has blessed me with an amazing 1966 Ford Fairlane, it is a beast.  It is not finished, but it still draws attention and admirers.  People appreciate the workmanship in the engine Jim has built me and they enjoy the sound of horsepower.  People came by and complimented the car and lauded Jim's skill and attention to detail.  They praised the artisanship and expertise involved in building it.  
C.S. Lewis talks of his difficulty with giving praise to God.  In "Reflections on the Psalms" he writes this, "But the most obvious fact about praise — whether of God or anything — strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless . . . shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it.  The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses [Romeo praising Juliet and vice versa], readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. . . . Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible. . . . I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about.  My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.  I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with."
At the car show, the participants and those who came to look showed their appreciation and shared their recognition of a beautiful vehicle by giving out awards.  Why bother?  Who cares?  What good is an award or trophy? Because someone put a lot of hard work and effort into building something beautiful.  And by giving out that award they were recognizing and acknowledging the builder and creator of that classic car or hot rod.  They were saying, this is a job well done.  By the way, they acknowledged my amazing man's hard work and long hours by giving the Fairlane the "Best Under Construction" award.  Funny, I think that is where I am at, if I will admit the truth here.  I am under construction, maybe not always the best, but always giving it the effort.  I struggle to always give my Builder and Creator the praise, but I do always have the desire to want to.   I want to make the Lord feel what I felt when I heard people saying nice things about my car.  People came and took pictures, they asked questions, they inspected underneath and took time to point out details in the engine.  Even people who could not speak English made their appreciation known by pointing at the smile on their faces, as if to say, see I like this even though I cannot speak your language.  How much more can we show the world how we appreciate and honor the God who created us.  How much more can we express our joy in the Lord, because as C.S. Lewis put it, our delight is incomplete until it is expressed.  And that delight and praise should be something that even those who cannot speak the language of "Christianese" per se can see.  Our very lives, our actions should show praise to the Lord.  Our every day existence should shout who we belong to without our having to say a word.  I know I often fail at that.  There are days that joy seems to evade me and I don't represent Him the way I should.  And then there are days where the joy of the Lord is not only filling my spirit, but it overflows onto my face.  When we were leaving the hotel this weekend, I went to the lobby to check out and get a receipt.  As I walked up to the door a lady was coming out.  I smiled at her and walked in, just going about my business.  I saw her again as I walked out and smiled again.  As we were in the car waiting to pull out she walked across the parking lot and said 'I am glad you hadn't left yet.  I wanted to say you caught my attention.'  She knew I thought she meant the car, and said, 'no not the car.  Yes that, too; but I meant you.  You are beautiful, but it is not just on the outside, but there is something on the inside that is beautiful.'  After she left, Jim just joked with his "I'm just chopped liver" line, but I started to cry.  I struggle with self-confidence, with not being enough.  With not being pretty enough, with not being smart enough, etc.  But when she said that, I was so touched by the fact that she saw something inside me.  I don't know if she was a Christian or not, but I know what she saw 'inside' was Him.  And somehow that 'Him on the inside' leaked out and showed on my face.  And my delight in life, in Him and and His blessings was expressed and became complete.  And that was far more valuable than any trophy or award.  
So today, I will 'bless the Lord, oh my soul'.  I will remind myself of all that He is, of all He has done.  I will remind myself of who I am in Him.  I will let His praise be continually be on my lips.  I will do like the car show judges do, I will look at all that this Master Builder and Creator has accomplished, I will acknowledge His workmanship, I will applaud His skills and compliment His attention to detail.  I will award Him the most coveted trophy, the greatest award, that of praise flowing freely from my lips.

Oh, to be a kid again.  How often as adults have we thought that.  To go to school, come home, do homework and chores and then play to our hearts content until dinner; go to bed and do it all over again.  Getting up at 6 am on Saturday mornings, sneaking a bowl of cereal and watching cartoons with the sound all the way down until my parents got up.  Riding our bikes until our legs were weary, roaming the neighborhood with our friends, waiting for the ice cream truck or even better the Helms bread truck to come by.  Does anyone else remember those bread trucks, with those drawers that they would pull out that seemed to be a mile long with donuts lined up so pretty.  And of course as we start to get a bit older all we want is to be 'grownup' so that we can do what we want.  Are you kidding, those good old days were when we really got to do what we wanted.  Now it's work, home to work some more, pay taxes, pay bills, do paperwork, stress over every little thing; go to bed, get up and do it all again.  Oh, to be a kid again!
This weekend we got to spend some time with our grandson August.  We were at an annual car show and parts swap meet and he was being such a help.  Helping with his little brother Axel and then helping us with stuff around our space.  When it came time to pack up he was helping put things away and taking trash to the dumpster.  Just being a good boy.  But in between all of his help he was over at the raffle table probably every twenty minutes checking to see if he had won anything.  My son bought him some raffle tickets and August was hoping for that beach cruiser bike.  He kept coming over to us and asking, when is the drawing for the bike?  Do you think I'll win the bike, nana?  Nana, cross your fingers that I will win.  It was so sweet watching him; oh how he wanted to win that bike.  As it came time to pack up and leave, Jim and I had to drive a car over to our shop and them come back for the truck and then head home.  The drawing was supposed to take place while we were gone.  As I drove off, watching him look at that bike I prayed, "Jesus, please let August get that bike, just to let him know what a good boy he has been."  We got back and they had not given the bike away yet; as we walked up to August, they were going to draw the ticket.  They called what color ticket.  It was not the color of August's ticket.  But I don't think he understood that.  He still had that look of anticipation and hope on his face.  Then they started calling out the numbers on the winning ticket.  Finally a lady walked over and said "Can I have that little boy August come up please".  We had no idea what was going on.  August walked up and she said, "I watched this sweet boy come up every 15 minutes or so to check on the raffle prizes and that bike.  He was so sweet I had to buy tickets for him, hoping he would win.  So this bike is for August."  Man, I started crying and laughing at the same time.  What an amazing thing that woman did.  What an amazing God to put that on her heart.  August did get that bike and now he will have a testimony for the rest of his life.  Oh, how God loves to just bless us.  
Oh, to be like a kid again!  To believe that God loves us, to believe that He wants to bless us, to believe that He watches over all that we do.  In the bible, Jesus says that we are to be as children.  Matthew 19:14, "One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.” (AMP)  And again in Matthew 18:2-4, "And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (ESV)  Children have such a trust, such a willingness to believe the best.  The joyful things in life mean so much and when the hurts and boo-boos come, they roll with the punches, wipe their tears and then go and play again.  They are filled with hope and expectation, believing that good gifts await them on Christmas morning and that their parents are the most amazing people in the world.  They are filled with wide-eyed wonder at a bug in the grass and see dogs and trains and airplanes in the shapes of the clouds.  Fall means piles of leaves to jump into.  They love to see their daddy smile and hate to see their mama cry.  They revel in playing in the spray of the garden hose and can't wait to catch snow flakes on their tongue.  A popsicle is the pinnacle of delights and a make-shift tent in the living room is the place of adventure and fantasy.  
The older we get the less we believe.  Trust, I don't trust anyone, everyone is out for themselves.  And believing the best?  Don't you know the cup is half empty and someone spit in it?  The joyful things are fewer and farther between and the hurts seem to be never ending.  Our only hope is that the weekend will come quickly and all we expect is that Monday will come even quicker.  Christmas means credit card bills and toys to be assembled and our parents are the reason we are the way we are, it is all their fault.  Bugs in the grass, call pest control; and clouds, well that means rain and crud, we just washed the car.  Fall means piles of leaves to rake up and bag.  Now I'm the daddy, and when do I have time to smile, and mama cries at the drop of a hat.  The garden hose just means more yard work to be done and snow melts and makes a muddy mess.  I can't afford a nice dinner out, let alone dessert and the only fantasy I have anymore is that I could be a kid again. 
There is one place that we can be that child again.  We can have that childlike faith in our heavenly daddy.  We can trust that He loves us, that He watches out for us.  That He always has His best in mind for us.  We can be like August and expectantly run up to Him, saying "Daddy, what do you have for me?"  "Daddy, I love you."  "Daddy, can I have a hug?"  We have a Father who delights in us, who delights to give us good things; He gave His Son for us after all.  I love what Zephaniah 3:17 says, "He will rejoice over you with great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you.” Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song." (TLB)  Have you even sung to your children, to your grandchildren?  That feeling is like a soft, mushy cloud, enveloping you and filling you with love and joy and a peace that is amazing.  That is how He feels about us!  And that barely even describes the extent of His love for us.  This mighty, all powerful, infinite God; looks on us with delight.  The One who formed the mountains and made beautiful rock gardens and ponds to play in, He takes joy in us.  The Creator who placed every star and planet, who formed every grain of sand, He is elated with us.  Exultant, ecstatic, jubilant over us!  And all He wants in return is for us to be like that little child, running to Him with our arms open wide and say "Daddy, pick me up!"  
For those of us who didn't have that relationship with an earthly parent, that is hard to understand.  It is hard to picture a parent just loving us, being there, holding us.  But believe me, God is not your mom or dad.  He is the One who wants to show you the love that you may have never felt before.  He wants to hold you in His arms and sing over you.   He wants to cherish you and love you and once a while just spoil you.
I remember a time when Jim and I had just come back to the Lord.  We had walked away for some time.  
That is when our marriage failed.  After repenting and returning to Him we were in a place of such delight with Him.  Just enjoying our relationship with Him.  Seeking Him daily, reading His word, walking in His will.  In the midst of all this we were blessed with a car that there is no way we could have afforded.  A Jaguar V-12.  Granted it needed work, but even then we were blessed with finding people who had parts we could afford and Jim got that car up and running beautifully.  I remember one day he was driving home, into our cruddy little mobile home park and he started crying.  I was startled and asked what was going on.  He said he couldn't understand why God would give him that car.  And I said, because He loves you and just wanted to bless you.  
Child of God, He loves you.  He wants to bless you.  He wants you to revel in His love just as He revels in your love for Him.  He wants you to trust Him, to look to Him for the answers, to run to Him in your need.  He wants you to come to Him with your joys, with your boo-boos, with all that you are and all that you have.  He wants you to delight in life again.  To lay down those heavy burdens and let Him care for you.  He wants you to believe like a child again and trust that daddy will take care of you.  He wants you to remember that you are His.  Oh, you can be that kid again!
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I was reading C.S. Lewis last night and this is the quote I wanted to share...
"God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense," (The Problem of Pain).  
When I read Lewis I either so get it, or it takes some time for it to percolate in my spirit before the meaning becomes clear.  This quote did a bit of both.  It is so beautiful and so deep and so full of meaning, far beyond what can be seen on the surface.
God has paid us the 'intolerable compliment of loving us'.  We have to remember that we are reading a British man's words, not modern day American English.  The word intolerable does not mean unendurable or unable to live with as we would read it.  It meant excessive.  God has paid us the excessive compliment of loving us.  And that is exactly what it is.  The God who created the universe, who spoke everything into existence, who formed the mountains and made the most delicate of flowers loves us!  How amazing is that?  How beyond comprehension that this great and marvelous God formed us in our mother's wombs, knew us before the foundation of the earth and loves us with an unending love.
​He loves us in the 'deepest' way. He knows our thoughts, He knows our motives, He knows our hearts. And even knowing us that well, and knowing our failings, He loves us. Deeper than we can fathom.  He loves us so deeply that He made the greatest sacrifice that anyone could make. 
He loves us in the 'most tragic' sense.  If you had a family member whom you loved who was put to death, and rightly so for a crime that they had committed, you would mourn them.  Your heart would be broken, not only for the choices they had made to bring them to that place, but for the loss you bear. Now imagine someone you love being put to death for no reason at all.  For those of us who live in the Prescott area I think of Kayla Mueller, on a mission of mercy in Aleppo.  She was taken captive and killed while in ISIS control.  How unjust and unfair and painful.  Now look at our heavenly Father, He himself asking His Son to give up His life so that we might have life, and that life more abundantly.  And then watching as Jesus allowed Himself to be placed on that cross; an innocent man, no sin in Him.  Dying a tragic death, an unfair death, a painful death for us.  For our benefit, for our sake, so we could have fellowship with Him.
He loves us in the most 'inexorable sense'.  I love words, I am a 'word' person.  And one of those words is inexorable.  I know, I am a bit strange.  But that word means unyielding, unalterable.  Oh how extraordinary that is!  How it takes my breath away to think that no matter what I do, no matter how far I am feel from God, His love never changes.  What a comfort that is on the days where I feel as though I have blown it.  What a joy that is to rest in that knowledge!  Oh how He loves me!  And how He loves you!
He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.  Today, every day, choose to love Him in return!  Choose to return that love with your life, with your gifts, with your talents.  Pay Him the excessive compliment of loving Him, in the deepest, most blessed, most unalterable sense.

Definitions from dictionary.com

Romans 1:20 states that we can see the power of God through His workmanship, through all He has created.  I look at the birds soaring through the air, there He is.  I see a delicate flower, straining towards the sky, He is there.  I see God everywhere I look.  I especially see Him in movies that I watch and books that I read.  I was watching a movie called "Brooklyn" the other day; it was about a young Irish woman who comes to America from Ireland.  It takes place in the 1950's and she has been sponsored by a priest in Brooklyn to come live and find work there.  She leaves her whole life behind, mother and sister and embarks on a new life in a new land.  There is a cost to her decision; loss of family, loss of homeland.  But time heals those wounds and she discovers a rich life and new love, until she has to journey back to Ireland.  She settles back into old ways and falls back into old patterns.  What will she do?  Return to the land of new beginnings and new life or stay in that old place that seems to suck her back into what she had escaped from before, a life of poverty and judgment.  
Oh come on.  You see the corollaries don't you?  A priest provides passage to a new life, a fresh start.  A decision must be made, to follow that new road or to stay on that old path.  New purpose and love is found in that new life.  But the old life finds a way to try to worm it's way back in and woos with the familiar.  Seriously, you don't see it?  Ok, so Jesus is that priest, actually our High Priest.  He offers us a new life, provided by His death on the cross.  We make that decision to be 'sponsored' by Him, to enter into new Life and receive a love that we have never experienced before.  We leave our old life of sin and death behind.  But old habits, the old sin nature tries to draw us back in.  What will we do?
I swear, we all believe that once we make that decision to follow Jesus we will never go back.  Go back to what?  I don't care if you came from the lap of luxury or from the ghetto, nothing compares to the love of Christ and what He has blessed us with.  But stumble and fall we often do.  And backslide, yes it happens.  I have written before what I see backsliding as.  I always thought is was what it sounds like, we are walking up this hill and it must be muddy or something, because we start slipping down that hill and going back the way we came.  God showed me that backsliding is worse than that.  The actual picture is of a mule digging it's heels in and refusing to go forward.  Oh, we'll never do that!  
It happens.  I was delivered from a life filled with drugs, alcohol and cheap relationships.  I was a liar, a cheater and cared about no one but myself.  Why in the world would I ever go back to that?  Well, I did.  I returned to that old homeland and let old habits and patterns have their sway.  My husband and I both walked away from the grace and mercy of God and lived according to our own desires, the desires of the flesh.  We went back to drinking, lying, cheating.  We left our children in the dust and skipped merrily along on our way to hell.  Here is what Romans 6:4-6 has to say about that, "[it is impossible to restore to repentance] those who have once been enlightened [spiritually] and who have [a]tasted and consciously experienced the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted and consciously experienced the good word of God and the powers of the age (world) to come, [b]and then have fallen away—it is impossible to bring them back again to repentance, since they again nail the Son of God on the cross [for as far as they are concerned, they are treating the death of Christ as if they were not saved by it], and are holding Him up again to public disgrace," (AMP).   Can you picture that?  I sit here weeping as I ponder the depth of those verses.  Those who have once tasted of salvation, if we turn our back and return to our old ways, we crucify Jesus afresh.  I did that.  I, who tasted of the Lord's goodness and love and experienced His joy and peace chose to return to the pig sty of my sin.  And not only that, but I may as well have taken up the hammer and used fresh spikes to nail my Saviour back on that horrible cross.  
When we are in sin we never picture it like that, do we?  We just say I'm doing it my way.  I'm tired of all the restrictions and just want freedom to live as I want.  Hey, He's a forgiving God, there's grace...no problem.  Oh, Lord forgive us for treating your grace so cheaply.  Lord help us repent of using your mercy like an antibacterial wipe.  Let's wipe those germs off and go back to living like we want.  I did that. I almost died in my sin.  One car wreck in a street race away from eternity.  I was there, and by God's grace and the power of prayer I did not die.  But my life got worse.  It's funny now, looking back.  We think we have it all together.  And we take these detours, thinking we're on the road to good times and kicks.  But, yes, to quote a cliche, we are on the highway to hell.  I thank God now that even as I walked away, with a flip wave of the hand, He never left me.  He was like that parent 'letting' his child walk to school alone, all the while following at a distance to make sure they got there safely.  That child is so proud of the fact that they made it, see dad, I could do it on my own.  Never knowing that they were being lovingly and faithfully watched the whole time.  
Through all the bad decisions, God was there.  Watching and waiting for me to turn back.  And that is the thing about God.  He never turns away.  Like the prodigal son, He saw me coming from afar and prepared the party for me.  My heart is so filled with gratitude and love for Him.  I know I blow it, probably every day, but my desire to love Him and bring Him glory keep my eyes on the prize.  And that prize is knowing that some day I will hear Him call me a faithful servant. That prize is laying my head on my pillow each night and thanking Him for helping me to become more like Him every day.  To become that Christ follower who lavishes His love on others.  Who extravagantly bestows grace and mercy at every step.  Who exuberantly (ok, that's a stretch for me, but I'm working on it) lives the life He gave me to the fullest.  
My point is that we are never too far from Him.  We are never out of reach of His mercy.  The arm of His grace is not too short.  I remember the relief I felt when I returned to Him.  And not because I had a safety net, which I certainly did.  But because I had the arms of my Father around me again.  I could relax into His embrace and feel His heartbeat again.  I could breathe in His fragrance...the stench of sin and death can't hold a candle to the aroma of restoration of being a child of God.  I had left that old wasteland of a place that would only remain as a former address and stepped back into an estate that was given to me as a birthright, with passage provided by my great High Priest, Jesus.   I had returned to Brooklyn.

Photo attribution: By Sledgeh101 at en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons